Tober Omi
Dallas, Texas, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
After listening to the album several times, I checked out their myspace page and record label page (thanks Google!) and WAS SHOCKED that these dudes are from Texas. Great Post Punk sound, and a 3 piece band that has good timing and changes. Well produced and this album beats the shit out of the over produced crap that I find being made so much now. It was nice to actually hear the band if you know what I mean. I would like a little more screaming, well I guess screaming is not the right word, actually emotion fits better, coming from the singer on some songs. That is by no means a complaint, the songs are aggressive and dark but I guess on songs like Cola Wars (which I absolutely love the spin on the Coke song, it is great) and Rat Catching you can tell there is anger there, or at least I thought so & I guess I wanted to feel that emotion come across more. Bird of Warning and Sing Me Off to Sleep are very catchy. The House That We Built screams Fugazi, which I love! Keokuk is a good opener and Luxembourg totally rocks out. Glad to see there are things other than steers and queers coming out of Texas. Thanks Tober Omi for proving me wrong - Punks'r'us
The real star of this show is Dallas' Tober Omi--you know how so many bands like to copy Gang of Four these days? Tober Omi's the first I've heard to really capture that band's fuck-all spirit without sounding a thing like them, choosing instead a post-punk attack that has the carnie mentality of outfits like Man Man. Be part of something big by attending this fucking show - BigDLittled.com
Pairing modern poetry in verse with volatile, fast-drummed beats, Tober Omi marries sailor chants with schizophrenic yelling. Somehow, it works.
Much like epic 70s London-based band Yes, one of TO's tunes is really like five. Each song guides you through a blind labyrinth atop the back of a wild, bucking beast.
The band's live dynamics have been cataloged as follows:
"They jump, they scream incoherently; they beat their chests and stomp their feet while creating a sound that can only be described as a circus funeral procession gone horribly wrong." (Tober Omi means "circus owner" in Latin, of course.)
- doindallas.com
91.7 KOOP, Austin, TX
91.7 KVRX, Austin, TX
90.5 KUT, Austin, TX
91.7 WMUH, Allentown, PA
91.3 FM KSCL Shreveport
The Bald Guy Show
Awful Snacks
Night Guy Under the Rock
Pozytywne Zacisze aka My Pocket Player
Covert Curiosity
- Radio / Podcasts
Discography
LP - Dirigibles
Currently producing second LP yet to be named
Photos
Bio
Parading the spectacle and reviving the spectacular under the big top of Dallas’ resurrected music scene, the trio Tober Omi (aptly named, meaning “circus owner” in Latin) formed in 2005.
Paul and Zack were formerly in several musical projects together and had already developed a unique and tightly knit rhythm section founded in the concepts of all things funky. Chris met Paul through a mutual friend, and failing – calling it a draw - to musically and otherwise out-weird the other, they decided to collaborate instead. With the enlistment of Zack on drums the three began playing live shows in Dallas under the name Tober Omi.
The band’s influences draw upon such disparate sounds such as Captain Beefheart, Man Man, Liars, David Bowie and Tom Waits.
Chris’ raw intuition for adding texture to the driving rhythms of Paul’s thumping and Zack’s beating tend more toward freak show than center ring. Fans coined a phrase for this intuition, calling it Chris’ “lack of formal music training.” He creates a noise extravaganza with his guitar, layering it with a marvel of cryptic, and at times unnerving, lyrical content.
Tober Omi’s live performances are a true spectacle. An unruly burlesque, perhaps, but like the bearded lady, once the audience sees Tober Omi, it can’t turn away. There’s only one ticket for life’s midway, so you know this ride is gonna be a good one,
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